John Cryer is a trade union sponsored MP who likes to present himself as a staunch defender of the downtrodden. In April 2014, Mr. Cryer addressed a memorial service in the Town Hall complex to commemorate ‘men killed whilst at work’, in particular those ‘as young as 16 who have died in and around the borough’. The local press published a picture of him standing outside the Town Hall itself, alon... »
A local resident writes: ‘Have you noticed all the Union Jacks now flying in the borough? You might expect a Union Jack at the Town Hall, but do we need them at Leyton Cricket Ground and other such facilities? Alongside running the Council, with all the difficult decisions to be made over cuts to essential services, it would appear that money has been found to put a flagpole and union jack a... »
Councils inevitably dispose of unwanted public assets from time to time, and it is always interesting to discover exactly how they do so, and who benefits. The following is a tale of what happens in Waltham Forest, and as might be predicted, it provokes more questions than it answers. On 14 June 2011, the LBWF Cabinet agreed to lease the Argall Avenue car parks to ‘BID’, a fair assumption being ... »
A couple of years ago, I started hearing some very surprising things about Leytonstone’s Business Improvement District (BID) company, the E11 Bid Co.. The allegation, in short, was that the directors of the company had failed to keep proper books and neglected to pay their taxes; run up substantial debts; and as a consequence jeopardised the company’s ‘going concern’ status... »
Back in September 2014, Waltham Forest’s Chief Executive, Martin Esom, was awarded a very large pay increase, amounting to £15,000 or 8.7 per cent, and this took his salary to £195,000 p.a.. With some justification, the Waltham Forest Guardian reported the story under the headline ‘Inflation busting pay rise for town hall boss’. Given his level of remuneration, one might expect that Mr. Esom would... »
Mark Baynes at Love Wapping has just posted a very interesting piece on a Tower Hamlets council audit report which ‘paints a grim picture of an almost total lack of control in relation to the awarding and monitoring of grants across the borough’. As he observes, the report, which covers the period September 2014 to November 2014, ‘describes a culture within Tower Hamlets council ... »
Ian Capes and Amanda Connolly write: ‘Some of you may be aware that GLL and the Council are redeveloping Waltham Forest Pool & Track. A few of us locals are concerned that they haven’t run a meaningful consultation. The new plans (due to be approved in the next month) show a reduction in facilities; for the disabled, the elderly and parents and toddlers, along with taking away the ... »
So you are an employer who has just been found guilty of breaking the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 – of running your affairs, in other words, in such a way as to endanger your employees and those who visit your premises. What do you do? Publicly apologise? Offer everyone involved some advice and support? Perhaps even take action against those who ... »
Worth reading: East London Residents talk about gentrification in their own words by residents of Fredd Wigg and John Walsh Towers http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/residents-of-fredd-wigg-and-john-walsh-towers-speak-to-vice-102?utm_source=vicefbuk »
I have posted the recent reports on Tower Hamlets and Rotherham in the documents box on the left. Each discuses a disturbing range of pathologies, and more of these than is comfortable have echoes in Waltham Forest. For example, two passages from the Rotherham report particularly resonate: ‘RMBC [Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council] has a culture of suppressing bad news and ignoring diffi... »